[Phys-l] current vector

[<carmelo@pacific.net.sg>]

Brian wrote:
> By George!   This is the second instance of a  post from >Jack pointing to a difference between the physics and the >maths of an experimental measurement concerning current.
> This may possibly be the first time ever, but I can see >exactly where Jack is centered in this matter, and it >seems usefully reasoned:  pragmatic and experimentally >based. It doesn't get much better than that!


The difference is beyond physics and mathematics, but semantics and a little bit of “politics”. 

For example, mass is not just a scalar, but can be expressed as irreducible representations of the Poincare group. The debate on invariant mass and relativistic mass is, in a sense, a debate between particle physicists’  “invariant mass” and other physicists’ “relativistic mass”. In addition, the definition of focal point need not be the same for the working astrophysicists and the biologists. The concepts on “current vector” or “charges on capacitor” also need not be the same for the physics teachers and electrical engineers etc…
(On the other hand, the same word “stress tensor” has different meaning in General Relativity, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials, Electrodynamics...)

In the Ascent on Mount Babel, there was an increase in different languages used. History may still repeat itself in similar fashion… 


Alphonsus